During the recent East and Gulf Coast longshore workers’ strike, several news outlets published finger-wagging headlines like “Striking Dockworkers Are Top Earners—When They Work” and “Many Dockworkers Make $150,000 or More. Why They’re Going on Strike.” The implication was that the strike centered on the grievances of a very privileged cohort of workers willing to damage the economy to raise their already inflated salaries.
Throughout the strike, the media and the shipping companies routinely invoked the specter of a six-figure blue-collar salary, assuming it would naturally send chills down the spine of every employer and instill disgust in the heart of every American.
The simple truth is that in 2024, a six-figure blue-collar salary should be a regularity, not an aberration. The notion becomes less scandalous when we compare workers’ salaries and purchasing power today to those in 1960.
In 1960, General Motors spent 29 percent of its revenue on its employees. In 2023, Amazon’s revenue was $574.78 billion, and it had 1,525,000 employees. If 29 percent of that revenue had been similarly devoted to its employees, it would have spent on average $109,302.43 per employee in 2023.
After subtracting health care and other expenses from this number to figure out an average salary, it wouldn’t be surprising to see more senior Amazon employees (and not just the white-collar ones in Seattle) or those who put in significant overtime (as many longshore workers do) making six figures.
A keen observer might point out that the average GM…
La suite est à lire sur: jacobin.com
Auteur: Benjamin Y. Fong
